Get it over with now. It will happen anyways.
And the Euro will fade into oblivion.

12:51 pm May 24, 2011

game theory wrote :

Return to the drachma or completely dissolve the gov't and layoff all public workers. Either way, problem solved. There is no other choice...unless lenders have lost their collective minds. I wonder if Greece will choose a return to their own sovereign currency over the other less palatable choices.

12:56 pm May 24, 2011

Realist wrote :

Guys, please fix the economic problem in your neck of the woods (US) and let Greece and the hapless Europeans carry on with their affairs...

It is hard to fathom that the world's sole superpower is bursting at the seams... the repercussions of your economic malaise are so much greater than those of Greece itself.

1:00 pm May 24, 2011

haris wrote :

fine Moodys 5 million euros for fueling instability. Terminate any license it may have for doing business in Europe

1:04 pm May 24, 2011

DD wrote :

Can someone tell me if there is a discount broker where I can find Greek debt to buy in small quantities 5-10 bond units? Serious.

1:06 pm May 24, 2011

Anonymous wrote :

DD: Any broker with access to euroclear can find the bonds

1:08 pm May 24, 2011

Dimitris (aka Realist above) wrote :

What would happend if Greece defaulted? What happened when Russia, Mexcio, and Argentina defaulted? Life still continued as no doubt it would for the Greeks and the world at large if Greece was to default.

If default means that the Greece comes out of it at the other side with nationalised assets, perhaps it will not be such a bad thing. Besides, the Greeks will not have to cough out interest payments as well as put up with the international ridicule.

Perhaps Greece is better off defaulting and starting afresh with clean accounts then selling off every little thing it has left at bargain prices in a depressed market.

1:09 pm May 24, 2011

Dimitris wrote :

Guys, please fix the economic problem in your neck of the woods (US) and let Greece and the hapless Europeans carry on with their affairs...

It is hard to fathom that the world's sole superpower is bursting at the seams... the repercussions of your economic malaise are so much greater than those of Greece itself.

1:49 pm May 24, 2011

peter wrote :

So that means , go down and then sale to have money. And then later when they are on the market again. they must use a law against hedge betting and fitch s+p etc

1:58 pm May 24, 2011

Danger 69 wrote :

Dimities,

2:10 pm May 24, 2011

KR wrote :

Default can be devastating for Greece. Argentina went though hell.
The banks would instantly become insolvent triggering all deposits being frozen. The government would then nationalize all the banks and likely impose a curfew. They would then issue the new Drachma or something along those lines, and immediately devalue it by 50% or more. Import prices would skyrocket, and that includes medical supplies and other essential goods.
Living in a bankrupt country means severly underfunded public services, police cars and ambulances with no gas, unmaintained sewer systems, good luck getting things such as a passport. Needless to say, many retirement funds are invested in Greek bonds... They would also have to take a haircut....

2:21 pm May 24, 2011

the thinker wrote :

The problem is not that easy.on the way in the eu banks and states are interlinked it will go downhard.
there are problems in Italy Beliugm and even the nederlands are borrowing every time more.
If Greece starts where is it stopping.
Or is it better to start a new world coin maybe called TERRA

6:32 pm May 24, 2011

.. wrote :

if you are greek (or sympathise with the ordinary greek people) and support the idea of a greek debt default join the facebook group "greeks for debt default"

10:35 pm May 24, 2011

William J McKibbin wrote :

Greece is already defaulting on its national debts -- restructuring simply means bond holders making concessions, which is another way of saying that the bond issuers are partially defaulting -- make no mistake about it however, Greece is defaulting, albeit over some unpredictable period of time...

10:00 am May 25, 2011

Anna Langer wrote :

Greece has never followed the EU and ECB directives. Greece has not respected the EU monetary and economic stability pacts. Greece lied its way into the euro.
EU partners will finally expel Greece from their EU club and put Greece only at the mercy of the IMF.
Greece should not have been allowed to join the euro.

11:07 am May 25, 2011

KR wrote :

@ Anna Langer
Technically you're right, Greek PM Simitis cooked the books and Greece presented the statistics that would meet the requirements....BUT
Did the Euro Czars scrutinize any of it? It was commmon knowledge that Greece's deficit, inflation etc was abysmally higher as recently as a year before these statistics were shown. The truth of the matter is that the ECB and the EU looked the other way in order to allow Greece and PIIGS in general in the the Euro zone.

The root of the problem though is that the whole idea was ill-conceived! This is not my opinion but that of many economists who warned the EU on this. The whole idea of distinct governance and common currency has trouble written all over it.

1:13 pm May 25, 2011

Expat in Greece wrote :

To Anna Langer. If Greece lied its way through the Euro, it did with the full knowledge and approval of all others (Germany/France). By the way others also lied their way in including Italy, Spain, Portugal as well as France

2:41 pm May 25, 2011

Steve wrote :

Let Greece tank. The sooner the better.

3:43 pm May 25, 2011

geo wrote :

Here in the Republic Of Ireland the Banks deposits are guaranteed by a bankrupt soverign state. I sleep really great at night knowing that someday my few quid will be frozen by the banks and then devalued. Anyone know where to put a few quid (euros) before the deposits get frozen?. Every european country had to contribute to the Greek problen in 2010. Even ireland had to contribute E500 to their bailout fund even though we were screwed ourselves. The eu knew about all this trouble and only wanted to cream themselves up beforehand not to mention the bank managers.

3:44 pm May 25, 2011

Patagonia wrote :

Greece's default is a when not a if question, and has been for a long time.
Several big investment banks helped Greece/Italy/and othersl to hide its true situation.
EU institutions ignored economist advise re ill-conceived EURO structure/falsified application data for political reasons....(amongst others, the French wanting to get rid of the strong German currency)

TAKE one step back: (the handling of Greece one aspect of a much bigger picture)

What is going down the drain here (and since 2007) are the very moral principals and pillars of political stability and economic growth in the US and EUROPE for more than a century:

- property rights (which include that individuals are responsible for the negative consequences of their actions, may they be debtors or creditors
- the (relative) absence of corruption
- the transparency of a legal system
- politicians actually following the legal rules (e.g. bailouts of EU countries are explicitly forbidden)

If that would mean that the ECB is insolvent (a probable assessment, given that they directly own or guarantee, repo about EUR 200 billion (rough estimate), denying it will not sort out the inevitable.

The message is clear - borrow above your means, some taxpayer will bail you out.

Are that the right incentives to rebuild growth???? How do we intend to be moral leaders to the rest of the world? How do we want to rebuild our economies (the current dabbling only makes things worse) given the ascent of the BRIC's?

3:59 pm May 25, 2011

geo wrote :

Meant to say contribute E500 million euros

6:40 pm May 25, 2011

DNguyen wrote :

Greece should default for the sake of its people. Needless to say that a default would have consequences to the Greek government and the EU. Despite the consequences, the benefits for the Greek outweighs the negative effects. The only solution is to default, get out of EU, go back to it currency, cut spending (far much less than the EU and IMF have been suggesting), sell assets, RAISE taxes. That is the only way out of this mess. Remember, it was H. W. Bush's taxes hike that enabled Clinton to implemented his economic agenda. If it wasn't for Bush's toughness, I questioned the degree of success of Clinton's economic policies. Bush had no choice but to raise taxes since he inherited a massive deficits from "Every Body Loves Regan". Greece needs a leader like H.W Bush. By the way, EU and IMF don't want Greece to default and keep asking Greece to "take one for the team" by means for austerity measure and take the bailout at high interest rate because every banks in EU zone have been holding each other debts. The one who default on its debts will surely have a better balance sheet with less debts, but the creditors will have to write down the debts. This is not good and the banks will soon mark their books down to ZERO. When the depositors will have learn about this, they will run to the banks to withdraw their money, and the whole banking system (credit/debit system) will collapse follow by the global economy. Nevertheless, I would live to see that Greece will not default if I were the Eurocrats.

9:05 am May 26, 2011

Michelle Briton wrote :

Greece has lied and has not respected the EU monetary and economic stability pacts and Greece has never followed the ECB directives. Greece will default.

7:56 pm May 26, 2011

Jeff Seders wrote :

“Underlying problems of over-borrowed nations are not fixed by lending them more money.” HHmmm. Can you say 'raising the debt limit'??

1:56 pm May 27, 2011

Alexander The Great wrote :

Greece is Greece and will never die loosers. Either with your money, or drachmas. And if you don't help now, then don't ever expect ANY help then.

2:02 pm May 27, 2011

GREECE wrote :

If you don't help Greece, the birthplace of democracy , and land of your forefathers then who are you gona help?

2:07 pm May 27, 2011

Man of the world wrote :

The problem is global and not only of PIGS. After the economic crisis of 70's the development of the global system depended on a continuously accelerated borrowing of every economic entity in the world states, enterprises, households. How the balloon has swollen incredibly and the leaders of the global system must find a solution urgently. The so far tried methods, keynesian or monetarian type, have only aggravated the situation. For many years the greek bureaucrats (in accordance with any other bureaucrat in the world) wasted the loans in unproductive expenses buying weapons, organising olympic games, swelling the bureaucratic mechanisms ect. but now the bill has arrived. Why in Greece firstly? I believe, because Greece is a rather developed, small country and easily controllable case and so convenient for experimenting. Instead the real dangerous case is not the greek debt but the japanese, british and so on till american one or better the real problem is the global debt and economic crisis. Have you, guys, any new idea on it?

3:37 pm May 31, 2011

Gus wrote :

I think the only way a default scenerio can work is if they boot Greece out of the EU. That would make a clear case to the rest of the PIGS and help sway public opinion to enact cost cutting measures to get the budgets back in balance. Once the remaining PIGS can show that their population has the political will to do what is necessary, interest rates should start to come back in line.

9:52 am June 27, 2011

Anonymous wrote :

Don't you think that Moody's terrorising investors with pre-emptive prophecies has played a role? Or that the bail-out couldn't have worked because intinsically was so planned as to drain the economy? What 'do you mean there was weaker-than-expected economic growth? How could it have been otherwise when the measure imposed on Greece drained it? Are you demented?

9:59 am June 27, 2011

Anonymous wrote :

@Michelle Briton

You seem ignorant of what actually happened -information derived from American/English media I guess. Greece had a long-term austerity programme to get into the Eurozone. For the first time under the Karamanlis government, Greeks heard about accountancy books being cokked - the statement came from the party which had just won the elections but no explanations was given by either side. People were stunned but those who admitted Greece into the common currency zone knew about that alright - an import country in euros is a far better client than an import country wagging drachmas. And do not for a second believe that all these defence systems were either voted for by Greek people or their governments. Greece is a pawn, whether one likes to admit one's one mistakes or not- it was manipulated to a hideous extent (including the devising of the EU subsidy system which led to the strategic collapse of Greek production in sectors other EU members didn't favour, simply because the former were competitive).

9:43 pm June 29, 2011

Arbaches wrote :

Most of protests are Staged and very well Orchestrated, they pretend fighting but do not hurt each other. This is worth it to get hundreds of billions from EU. Greeks are very smart; the deception started with the Trojan Horse and is going on with very well orchestrated “PROTESTS”. If you want Greece to be paid off, for the Enormous Army, Universal Free Health Care, Lucrative Pensions, and Taxes that they never Pay, then you pay them by yourself, PAY THEM OFF, BY YOUR OWN POCKET.
DON’T LET GREECE TO DRAG YOU DOWN. CUT OFF THE ROPE, AND LET THEM GO FIRST…

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